Valentine's Day in Torchwood
by Lycoris Fide
Summary: Ianto Jones should have known that Torchwood would have other ideas when it came to Valentine's Day. After all, where would the fun be if it didn't?


**Summary: Ianto Jones should have known that Torchwood would have other ideas when it came to Valentine's Day. After all where would the fun be if it didn't?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or its characters.**

* * *

The feeling of being unprepared was unusual for Ianto Jones and left him feeling distinctly uncomfortable about the fast approaching Valentine's Day. He didn't know where he stood with Jack at that moment. Sure, they went on the occasional date, and they had their moments of true fondness and contentment but both were a long way off from admitting they were a couple yet. Neither party, for their separate reasons, were ready to admit to their relationship. Ianto was at a complete loss for what to do. And that certainly didn't sit right with him. It was exactly a week before Valentine 's Day that he decided that it was probably better to be safe than sorry. It was with this in mind that he set out into the streets of Cardiff to find a suitable present for Jack. Of course it had to be something that would stand the test of time, something which Jack would appreciate and because of Ianto's thorough nature, it had to be practical. Attempting to protect himself from the bitter cold, he pulled his coat closer around him as he began the tedious task of present shopping. As he wandered idly from shop to shop, Ianto decided on something – he would only give Jack his gift if he received one from Jack first. Ianto vowed this to himself, knowing it was for his own good.

Jack was staring at his calendar, pondering the upcoming Valentine's Day. He was raking his brain for an idea on what present he could give to Ianto. Needless to say, Jack was drawing a blank. Groaning, he turned away from his calendar and tried anew to think of a suitable present. As Jack thought about the situation more and more he came to the realisation that if he couldn't even think of a present to give Ianto, who was his sort-of-but-not-really boyfriend then maybe it was because he shouldn't be giving him a present at all. Jack groaned, feeling his annoyance surface. Sure what he had with Ianto was great, it was amazing; but could he consider it to be love?

Valentine's Day had arrived. Ianto arrived at the hub at his usual time, a whole hour earlier than everyone else and started to clean up and make the coffee. He hoped that no one would try and make a big deal out of the commercial holiday, but if the last year was anything to go by that wasn't likely to happen. When he went into Jack's office to deliver his coffee Jack looked up from his desk to smile at Ianto.  
"Thanks Ianto," Jack sighed, wrapping his fingers around the warm mug before he took the first sip of Ianto's heavenly coffee. Ianto smiled in return at Jack's openly pleased reaction to his coffee.  
"Pleasure," Ianto replied with ease and turned around to leave again.  
Jack badly wanted to say something, to be able to jokingly comment on the date but he found that no words were coming to mind. He watched as Ianto left his office again without another word. Maybe they were just going to treat this as a normal day then. This came as almost a relief to Jack, he still hadn't been able to think of a appropriate gift to give to Ianto. Tosh arrived next and when Ianto handed her coffee as soon as she entered she replied with her quiet morning nature,  
"Thank Ianto. And Happy Valentine's Day."  
Ianto smiled back at his friend and tipped his head,  
"And you, Tosh."  
When Gwen arrived not long after to find a hot cup of coffee waiting on her desk for her she called out to Ianto,  
"Oh, you're a star Ianto."  
Ianto's soft smile soon left his face though when Owen came into the hub and greeted him with a customary comment instigated to rile Ianto,  
"I'd thought you'd be with Harkness."  
Ianto knew he was walking into a trap, but he just couldn't bear to leave that sentence hanging, he had been raised with impeccable manners after all.  
"And why's that, Owen?"  
"Well it's the fourteenth of February isn't it? "  
"Brilliant observation skills," Ianto replied with his usual dry wit.  
"Thought you two would be, you know, still doing 'paper work'."  
Ianto closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, he should have known that Owen would take any opportunity to tease him. It was true that after Owen had died, he and Ianto were getting along better. Recently the majority of Owen's teasing had been said out of tradition rather than true malice.  
"You know Owen, I do have a life outside of Jack," Ianto quickly shot back at Owen, who was raising his eyebrows at Ianto now.  
"Ha. Sure you do, tea boy," Owen replied in a patronising tone which Ianto stubbornly refused to rise to. After realising that Ianto was leaving the subject alone, Owen headed down to the medical bay. Gwen was biting her lip slightly, as if she were internally debating something. However she seemed to make her mind up when she asked as innocently as possible,  
"You and Jack doing anything for Valentine's Day then?"  
Ianto picked up some papers from the floor and placed them neatly back on the table. Well aware that both Tosh and Gwen were looking at him, he forced a smile and tried to close the subject for good.  
"We haven't really talked about it," _at all_ Ianto added on in his head.  
Tosh and Gwen both cast him slightly worried looks but Ianto just shook his head slightly. Gwen smiled and turned back to her computer, filling in some forms while Tosh turned back to her calculations a second later. He breathed out quietly and made his way to the archives where he could work without being distracted or teased by his colleagues.

Ianto was helping Tosh with cataloguing an artefact when the rift alert sounded throughout the hub, pulling Ianto out of his explanations. There was a unanimous sigh from the team, it was clear that none of them were exactly looking forward to having to wrestle with weevils or any other type of monster that the rift had spat out on Valentine 's Day. Gwen just wanted to go home to the comfort of Rhys and the special dinner he had promised to cook her. Owen didn't have much to look forward to; it wasn't as if he could go on the pull for lonely and desperate girls tonight, or any other night in fact, what with his predicament of being dead and all. Tosh was simply looking forward to a quiet evening alone to relax and enjoy herself. And Ianto… Well, Ianto didn't know what was going to happen, and that didn't sit well in his stomach. Tosh rushed over to her computer and pulled up the relevant information on the rift alert as Jack made an appeared out of his office. He made his way over to Tosh, placing his hands on her shoulder so that he could peer over her shoulder at her screen,  
"So what have we got this time?"  
Tosh looked up at Jack and informed him of the details.  
"It's a fairly big spike, so I'd guess it's not our normal weevils. About twenty five minutes away, in Coedkernew."  
Jack didn't wait for any more information before he was organising the team and quickly calling out,  
"Right, let's go!"

Fifteen minutes later found Owen sitting in the back of the SUV with Gwen whilst Jack drove, Ianto in shotgun. As the rift alert had detected that the alien was fairly big, Jack had instructed that only Tosh would remain in the hub, orchestrating the movement of everyone else from there. Jack drove recklessly fast through a small village, attracting scows and dirty looks from the locals there. However he was forced to slow down when they approached an overcrowded pub, decked out in the traditional pink hearts to celebrate Valentine's Day with. Ianto looked over to Jack to see him grimace slightly at the display and prepare to sound the horn and push his way through the crowd, who all seemed to be laughing and looking around incredulously. Ianto, feeling something was off about the situation looked more closely at the horde of people gathered around the pub; most were gathered around three men who were talking animatedly and gesturing widely about them. Ianto liked to believe he had a sixth sense about reading people's emotions, so he tended to trust his instincts and his instincts were telling him that the small group of men had seen something that they shouldn't have. Jack was merely a centimetre away from slamming his hand onto the car's horn when Ianto reached over to stop him. Jack stopped and looked over to Ianto, wanting an explanation. Ianto's forehead was scrunched up as he turned his head slightly towards Jack without taking his eyes off of the scene in front of them.  
"Can you pull over a second?"  
Jack wasn't sure exactly what Ianto's reasons for wanting to get out of the car were but he put his foot on the brakes anyway, silently complying. Ianto quickly clicked his seatbelt off and opened the door, barely hearing Owen's annoyed remark,  
"What's tea boy doing now?"  
The crowd of people saw Ianto approaching and moved out of the way; knowing that any suit clad man coming from a black SUV probably meant business. The three men who were at the centre of the commotion also noticed Ianto coming towards them. Without the distance hindering his sight, Ianto could clearly see the fear painted in their eyes.  
"What happened here then?" Ianto questioned them. It was then that he realised that for a reason unknown to him, everyone else had quietened down to listen to him. One of the three men stepped around the others and spoke to him,  
"Some kids have been messing about. I don't know how but they've done it… But, well it's like a life size Bogeyman." If it weren't for the fact that the man was looking deadly serious, imploring Ianto with his eyes to believe him, Ianto would have thought he was joking. Still, Ianto wasn't going to easily accept this idea without seeing it for his own eyes. Even after all he had seen from his years of experience in Torchwood, he remained incredibly sceptical about the idea of a real life Bogeyman existing.  
"Right," Ianto replies, with just the right amount of humour in his voice, "and where did you see this… 'Bogeyman'?"  
Another of the lads piped up,  
"It was about half a mile that way," he pointed in the direction that the team were originally heading, "we were just driving down here and we saw it in the field. Couldn't believe our eyes, could we?" He turned back to his companions, earning vigorous nods of approval from them. For once, Ianto could think of no witty reply and so simply decided to reassure the small gathering around him,  
"Nothing for you to worry about I'm sure. It's just kids messing about, as you said." With that Ianto walked back to the SUV. He opened the door, settled himself and clicked his seatbelt back in before looking straight ahead and stating,  
"We have a Bogeyman to catch apparently."  
Jack outright snorted while Owen looked at Ianto incredulously,  
"You've got to be kidding me."  
Ianto looked at him through the rear view mirror and stated dryly,  
"For our sakes, I really hope it's just a joke."  
Jack started driving again whilst activating his comm.  
"Hey Tosh, can you search the database for, and wait for this because it's good… For entries under 'Bogeyman'."

Jack hit the brakes so hard that the momentum caused everyone inside the SUV to slam against their seatbelts.  
"Christ, Jack! What was that for?" Gwen's voice was the first to arise from amongst the groans of the team. Jack's voice was full of glee when he exclaimed,  
"I just saw the Bogeyman!"  
"Brilliant," Ianto commented wryly, adjusting his suit slightly after the jarring stop had produced creases. The team exited the SUV and followed Jack's lead around to a farm barn located to the side of the road. They readied their guns and as a unit they checked out the site as stealthily as they could. They had spread out to cover a greater area and after they had been futilely searching for five minutes, they were all beginning to doubt that this alien existed. Just as the team were about to voice their reservations, a huge lumbering figure rounded the corner of the barn to meet them. The alien was at least 8 feet tall and was vaguely humanoid but its body was made entirely of thick mucus like paste which glistened and rolled with every movement the alien made. The team simultaneously raised their guns at the alien. If they didn't know better it would have been easy to label the creature as the Bogeyman. Jack cast a quick and worried look in Ianto's direction without the other man noticing when the creature lured his gaze back towards it. Moving with clumsy and heavy limbs which oozed yellowed liquid onto the ground, it headed towards Owen. Seeing the threat of danger, Ianto gritted his teeth with his gun raised at the alien, keeping his hands steady and ready to fire on command. The alien was still approaching Owen, with its mouth gaping wide, stretching strings of mucus like saliva across the gap. Strangely, the alien made no noise at its approach, but its silence only amplified the distinct squelch it made with every sluggish step it took. Owen didn't know what to do as the alien continued its slow stumble in his direction, with no signs of stopping.

"Jack!" Owen shouted, looking to their leader for advice. Jack stared wide eyed at the alien and then back to Owen. The alien looked to be sentient to come extend and so Jack didn't want to hurt it. But it was still approaching Owen and the safety of his team members would always come first.  
"Shoot it!" Jack decided, raising his own Webley to take the shot. Owen, who had his gun already raised, finger on the trigger, fired the first shot fuelled through his panic. It hit the alien in the shoulder, forcing it to halt its procession. No other shots were fired as the team waited with bated breath for the creature's reaction. It stumbled backwards as four guns remained trained on its form, ready for it to attack at any moment. The body of thick yellow liquid now encased the bullet, which could still be seen through the translucent liquid of its shoulder. Gwen breathed out steadily preparing herself to shoot as the alien looked from its shoulder back to the team rhythmically, almost appearing confused. The slime that made the alien's shoulder then started to move. It was congealing from within its own body to surround the bullet in thick swirls. The motion of the aliens slime began to spread outwards from the impact wound to move over its chest, then torso, followed by its abdomen and legs.  
"This does not look good," Owen remarked, seeing the alien's body liquid begin to bubble. The team started to retreat as the gunge that was the alien's head began to twist and contort. Ianto opened his mouth, words ready to form on his tongue about removing themselves from the situation when the alien made its first sound.  
It gurgled right before it exploded.  
Like an exploding star the alien detonated outwards from its centre of mass, splattering and throwing its ligaments outwards like an afterthought. Owen, Jack, Gwen and Ianto stood there in stunned horror, all covered from head to toe in warm alien mucus. Jack heard a gagging sound and turned in time to see Ianto spit the gelatinous liquid out of his mouth. Gwen lifted her hand to wipe a stream of goo off of her forehead before it had a chance to reach her eye. Owen smeared his palm across his mouth and spit out, trying to remove any trace of the alien slime from his system, knowing that he had no way to flush it out himself. Jack heard Tosh's voice, muted through his goo coated comm.  
"What's happened out there?" Jack felt the sudden inappropriate urge to giggle, but he managed to control his want for a laughing fit down to an abrupt snort of disbelief. Ianto looked at him in astonishment and judgement, not understanding how Jack could find amusement in their current state. Nonetheless when Jack only grinned in return at him, Ianto found himself breathing out in stifled amusement as he began to see the hilarity of exploding aliens. A smile on his lips Ianto commented,  
"To be fair, we should have known that would happen."

Jack had decided to let Owen and Gwen to have the remainder of day off to clean up. There were no other rift predictions for that day and none of them really wanted to spend any more time at the hub when they were still dripping with alien mucus. Jack had offered to drop Ianto back at his house but he had declined the offer, saying that he needed to do some work with Tosh back at the hub which couldn't wait. When Ianto and Jack entered the hub, slime was still oozing from their clothes and dropping to the floor with an unceremonious squelch. Ianto winced as the material of his once pristine suit stuck to his skin uncomfortably with his every movement he made. Ianto had called Tosh from the SUV to inform her of how the mission had panned out, but when Tosh saw the duo enter the hub with every inch of them covered in sludge Tosh let some of her professionalism slip and she couldn't supress a giggled. Jack smiled openly at her reaction whilst Ianto shook his head slightly. Tosh decided to return to her work, figuring out it was best to leave the two of them to sort themselves out without disturbance from her. Jack noticed Ianto's clear distain on his face as he passed his hand over the slime caked material of his suit. It was true that Jack was uncomfortable and vaguely disgusting with himself, but Ianto looked as if it was an abomination to carry on wearing what he was. Not that Jack would be against removing clothes, but in the Welsh February weather, even when in the hub, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to walk around in the nude. Plus, he was fairly sure Tosh wouldn't appreciate it. Jack put his hand on Ianto's shoulder, feeling the slime congealing there spread a thin layer over his palm.  
"Ianto, you can have the first shower, you look vaguely repulsed by your clothes right now."  
Ianto turned around to face Jack with a grimace on his face. He replied sighing heavily,  
"I think you get to have first shower privileges this time. I have to talk to Tosh quickly and get some of this," he lifted his hand up, displaying the thick yellow liquid that was trickling down his index finger, "bottled up and ready for Owen to examine."  
"I can do that if you like." Jack didn't want Ianto to suffer any more than he had to in his clearly uncomfortable clothing. Ianto simply smiled back at him and shook his head,  
"No, it's alright. I don't mind that much."  
Jack's brow furrowed at the sight of Ianto's usually immaculate appearance being defiled. He knew that Ianto was suffering by remaining the way he was but Ianto's unquestionable work ethic meant that he always put Torchwood first before personal comfort. Jack nodded in acceptance and made his way to his shower, ever conscious of the trail of slime he was leaving behind him on the hub floor.

Jack came out of the shower fifteen minutes later, looking a lot cleaner and happier. He was wearing new, more comfortable clothes, knowing that his old ones were ruined beyond fixing. Jack was simply grateful that he hadn't been wearing his great coat, having chosen to leave it in the SUV instead at the time of the explosion. He walked over to where Tosh and Ianto were working, Tosh was furiously tapping at her keyboard as Ianto stood behind her, trying not to touch anything.  
"Ianto, the shower's free." Jack informed him. Ianto looked up at him in clear relief and replied,  
"That's good timing, we've just finished here."  
"Great. You can take as long as you like in the shower, Yan."  
Ianto exhaled gratefully and made his way to Jack's shower with a slump in his shoulders. Jack watched him go with a frown on his face and turned to Tosh,  
"Once you've finished up here, you can head home. Everyone else got the rest of the day off so it's only fair that you do too."  
Tosh looked up from her work to smile at her boss,  
"Thanks, Jack. I don't think I'll be much longer now."  
Jack nodded and headed towards his desk. He decided that he might as well start on his paperwork while he had the chance, knowing it would please Ianto. Jack began to write but found himself struggling to pull his thoughts together. He wondered what exactly he should write on the report, Ianto always told him that the more detail he put in, the better. Did that mean Jack should write about the awkward, squishy and frankly smelly ride back to the hub? The whole team was ridiculously uncomfortable as Jack drove them back to the hub, keeping the windows rolled down for the entire journey despite the cold. Jack thought back to how Ianto's posture had remained stiff for the whole ride back. Jack knew without asking that it was because of the state of Ianto's suit. His love for suits was deep rooted and went beyond simply wanting to look professional. Ianto Jones turned suits into an art. Jack himself was saddened by the realisation that one of Ianto's favourite suits was currently covered in slime. Ianto had been wearing a deep red shirt, which complimented his pale skin perfectly in Jack's opinion, along with a grey and pink stripped tie. Jack thought about how his dark suit had rested perfectly on his shoulders and how the lines hugged Ianto in all the right places. Jack thought that he had never known someone to wear a suit as well as Ianto could. Jack's thoughts were beginning to trail off in a questionable direction when he had a sudden idea. He knew what he could do for Ianto for Valentine's Day. He could replace Ianto's ruined suit. Jack briefly toyed with the idea of getting him a bespoke suit, but he soon realised that the price range of such a suit would only make Ianto uncomfortable. He also realised that he couldn't purchase another suit for Ianto seeing as he didn't know he man's size or his preferred style. Jack groaned again, thinking that he would never be able to think of a proper Valentine's present to give to Ianto. With all the thoughts of suits in his head, Jack suddenly realised that Ianto didn't have anything to change into once he had showered. He was able to quickly search through his sparse selection of clothes to find a hoodie, plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans that he thought should fit Ianto. He folded them neatly into a pile, knowing Ianto would appreciate this and silently opened the bathroom door. Under other circumstances on other days Jack would have let Ianto know about his presence, but for today he was happy to fool Ianto into believing that he was alone. Jack quietly placed the new clothes down on a chair and looked around for Ianto's suit. He found it piled messily into one corner, the floor now a puddle of the alien substance. He collected the suit carefully in his hands and silently left the bathroom again. Jack wasn't exactly sure why he had removed Ianto's suit from the bathroom and was standing in the middle of his office with the clothes held at arm's length when an idea struck him. If he couldn't get Ianto a new suit, he would fix his ruined one. It was with this in mind that he skilfully piled the suit into a plastic bag. He hurriedly scribbled a note for Ianto and then left the hub, not answering Tosh's question of where he was going.

Ianto emerged from the shower to notice that his suit was gone and had been replaced by clean, new clothes. An involuntary smiled pulled at his lips when he realised that Jack had left them there for him. He began to search through the clothes that Jack had left him and soon realised that a few essentials were missing, such as underwear. Ianto shook his head, not knowing whether this was done on purpose or it was an honest mistake. Despite this lack garment, Ianto's heart warmed further by the thought of Jack wanting to look after him. Then Ianto thought about Jack spying on him while he was having a showing and the warmth inside him soon turned to alarm. Not seeing any other choice other than going commando, he quickly changed into the clothes which he found to his surprised, fit him comfortably. Ianto knew that Jack didn't know where he kept his spare clothes in the hub, but he was still shocked that Jack had given Ianto his own clothes to wear. Ianto tried to ignore the thought in his head which was telling him that he would rather wear Jack's clothes than find the suit he kept in the hub. Ianto sighed anew, thinking about his ruined suit. It had been one of his favourites. Knowing there was nothing he could do about it, he set out to find Jack and the whereabouts of his missing suit. Ianto felt a little uncomfortable walking around in such casual clothes but enjoying the feeling and scent of Jack's clothes all the same. Why did Jack have to smell do good? Bloody pheromones. His discomfort was almost worth it to see Tosh's look of shock when she saw him. _Almost_ worth it. When she told him that she had seen Jack run out of the hub, this puzzled Ianto further. As he made his way up to Jack's office Ianto realised that a scarce amount of people would believe that he was currently wearing Jack Harkness' clothes. Not simply because it was so domestic, but because so few people had every actually seen Jack dressed in casual clothes. Ianto smiled to himself, feeling oddly privileged that he could be counted as one of the few. It didn't take long for Ianto to find the note left on Jack's desk. It read:  
'Ianto, I've gone out to deal with something. I won't be that long. Sorry.'  
Ianto sighed, hating the fact that he would wait the whole night for Jack to return if he had to.

Jack returned half an hour later with his present for Ianto. He'd had to take the invisible lift and hide it before going to find Ianto. Ianto was sat comfortably filling out the last of his reports at Jack's desk, not yet aware of his presence. Jack felt the stirrings of guilt when he saw Ianto snuggle in closer to Jack's hoodie and close his eyes, dragging the palms of his hands over his eyes tiredly.  
Ianto was staying behind for him. The fact that he had remained at Jack's desk brought an automatic smile to the captain's lips. Ianto looked up at him when he heard his footsteps coming closer, obviously wondering why he hadn't heard Jack enter through the cog door. Jack knew he couldn't give Ianto a chance to question him, so he quickly flashed the man a smile and asked,  
"Hey. Has Tosh gone?"  
"Um yeah, she left about twenty minutes ago," Ianto replied, slightly uncertain of why Jack had entered so quickly and without any explanations of his whereabouts for the last half hour. In that time Ianto had been busying himself with work, trying to ignore the voice in his head which taunted him about Jack's lack of recognition towards Valentine's Day. Although Ianto still had Jack's present neatly wrapped and hidden in his car, he had come to accept the fact that it probably wouldn't be making an appearance any time soon. He wanted to know where Jack had been, but he also didn't want to nag him. Jack had moved around his desk to stand behind Ianto and it was then that Ianto decided he didn't really care if he annoyed Jack with his questions.  
"What have you been doing, then?" Ianto arched his neck in order to see Jack's face, but to Ianto's surprise, Jack didn't look irritated but instead he looked rather nervous. Jack breathed in quickly, closing his eyes and stealing himself; his shoulders set and when he opened his eyes he looked determined.  
"I have something to show you."  
Jack walked to the doorway of his office until Ianto was standing beside him, then he pointed down to one of the work stations where a white garment bag lay.  
"Go open it," was the only thing Jack said in way of guidance to Ianto. Ianto's curiosity peaked as he made his way down to the bag. When he reached it, he ran his fingers experimentally along the material before gliding the zip down to reveal what was beneath.  
Ianto's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the object within with wide eyes. Then his forehead furrowed as he realised that he was staring at his suit. Not just any suit, but the one that had been layered in sickly alien goo only an hour or so previously. Now the suit was pristine, looking more cared for and immaculate than Ianto had ever managed to achieve with it before. He ran his fingers down the lapel, feeling the smooth fabric and couldn't fathom how Jack had accomplished this. Ianto heard Jack join him and turned around to stare at him, questions on his lips. Jack stood very close to Ianto, trying to gauge his reaction. Ianto couldn't believe what was in front of his eyes and found himself asking,  
"Jack is this…?"  
"Yes."  
Ianto shook his head in minute wonder, "That's impossible."  
Jack looked a little bit awkward as he gestured to the suit, "Well… clearly it's not."  
"No I mean... How did you do this so quickly?"  
"Oh," Jack regained his composure again, smiling at Ianto teasingly, "I thought you would be the expert on dry cleaning, seeing as you constantly have to do ours. I know you love this suit and I personally couldn't bear to throw it away when you look so good in it. I know people in the business and I just asked them to do it quickly enough for-"  
Jack was cut off as Ianto fiercely hugged him; Jack smiled and returned the hug with equal strength.  
"Thank you Jack, you really didn't have to. It means a lot to me."  
"Happy Valentine's Day, Ianto," Jack whispered into his ear. Ianto sighed and smiled into Jack's neck but then pulled away from the embrace with a light smile on his lips,  
"Jack what do you mean by 'you know people?"  
Jack simply grinned at him. Ianto stepped back slightly, raising his eyebrows.  
"Jack, believe me if there were 'people' in the dry cleaning business I would know. Hell, I'd be friends with them by this point."  
Jack sighed, reluctant to say. He had bought the best and fastest dry cleaning for Ianto, costing him more than Ianto would have wanted to know. Jack thought hard for an acceptable excuse,  
"Well I know how to persuade them."  
Ianto raised his eyebrows even more, knowing exactly how Jack persuaded people. Jack blanched, reading Ianto's face,  
"No, no! No not like that," Jack smiled. "Although…"  
Ianto smiled slightly in return, reassured by Jack's easy nature. In truth, he didn't want to admit how much the idea of Jack flirting with someone else bothered him. Ianto wasn't about to let the subject drop however,  
"So what did you do?"  
The smile left Jack's face as he realised that he wouldn't be able to get out of telling Ianto.  
"Fine Ianto. You know it's a present, you're not meant to ask how much it cost."  
Understanding filled Ianto's eyes, and then they softened. He stepped closer to Jack again, cupping his face gently.  
"You didn't have to do that for me you know."  
Jack shrugged, stepping closer to Ianto as well, "I wanted to. You're my valentine after all."  
Realisation suddenly flooded through Ianto and he found himself exclaiming,  
"Oh, I need to give you your present!"  
"You have a present for me?"  
"Yes, it's in my car. Wait here." With that Ianto turned and walked off to retrieve his gift. Jack leaned back against the table, satisfied with the direction their Valentine's Day was heading in.

Ianto returned with a neatly wrapped box in his hand and walked over to Jack. Ianto found he couldn't keep the smile off of his face, despite his clear nerves over the gift he was about to present. He passes Jack the small box and Jack didn't break eye contact with him, not even for a second, as Ianto nervously said,  
"Happy Valentine's Day, Jack."  
Jack grinned and began to rip the paper off of his present. Revealed beneath was a smooth black box, Jack cast one more glance to Ianto's anticipating face before he lifted the lid open. Nestled inside the box was a burgundy leather wallet. It was a simple, yet sturdy looking wallet with a designer label attached to it. As Jack looked down at his present, he realised for the first time that he didn't actually own a good wallet. He simply tended to keep money in his pocket or use cards. Jack's smile grew bigger as he realised that of course Ianto would notice this fact before he himself did.  
Jack took the wallet out of its box, running his fingers over the smooth leather.  
"Ianto… thank you so much."  
Ianto smiled and let Jack kiss him softly, but then pulled back,  
"Look inside."  
Jack opened the wallet, at first not noticing the black lining and multiple sections to the article because his attention was held by a small photo held securely in place. It was of the whole team, they were all spread around the sofa in the hub in various states of unconsciousness. Jack remembered the night this happened, they had just been on a particularly gruelling weevil hunt, lasting several hours into the night. When they had returned to the hub Jack, Tosh, Owen and Gwen had hauled the multiple weevils into the cells only to emerge to find that Ianto had somehow ordered in pizza for the starved team and prepared fresh coffee. Jack remembered telling Ianto that he was a God send. They had all eaten pizza collected lazily around the sofa and as they finished they'd found that they couldn't fight off the night's exhaustion any more. It was one of Jack's fondest moments at Torchwood Three and now thanks to Ianto, he had it immortalised on picture for him to keep.  
"Tosh found it on the CCTV." Ianto informed him before Jack even had the chance to string a coherent question together. It was at that moment that Jack realised exactly how special Ianto Jones was. No one else would have realised the significance of the small photo but it meant so much to Jack. Living an immortal life was a horrible burden for him to bear, but that didn't mean that Jack could hide away from life. Jack studied the photo in greater detail. Gwen and Owen were both lying down together on the sofa looking squished and uncomfortable but seemingly asleep. Tosh was curled up in one of the comfier chairs, with her eyes closed contentedly. But what really caught his attention was where he and Ianto were. They were both sitting on the floor, slouching against one end of the sofa with their heads resting heavily on its cushions. Their position was arguably the least comfortable but the two men were wrapped around each other and both sleeping peacefully.

At first Ianto hadn't been sure whether Jack would appreciate the addition of the photo to his present, but when Jack looked up at him with undeniable love in his eyes Ianto knew it was the right decision. Ianto could never regret his decision to love Jack.

* * *

**AN: This fic came to life simply because who doesn't need Janto fluff on Valentine's Day? It was originally my beta's idea (DaughterOfTheAllfather) to write for Valentine's so I owe a lot of this fic to her. Thank you for helping me transform what started as sleep deprived writing into something I can be proud of.**

**Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!  
So all I have left to say is, if you're reading this on the 14****th**** February, Happy Valentine's Day!**

**Love Lycoris-Fide**


End file.
